Delta Sigma Theta is taking its “be healthy” initiative to the grassroots level.

The Muskegon Heights Alumnae chapter of the sorority has introduced “Delta Fit Girls,” an after-school obesity prevention program aimed at reaching elementary students. The program is for fourth- and fifth-grade girls at Oakview Elementary School and got under way Oct. 12.

The program tackles such subjects as reading, running and etiquette and offers personal training for a local 5K walk and run event the girls will participate in near the end of the nearly eight-week project.

Emily Brown fit coach for the Delta Fit Girls after school program at Oakview Elementary plays a game with girls from the class on Thursday, November 4, 2010. Jeffrey Ball | The Muskegon Chronicle

“Delta Fit Girls is utilizing the Fit Girls Fitness Program, which emphasizes a holistic approach to health: healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthy hearts,” said Brenda Hoskins, the program’s project coordinator and organization’s Sorority Healthy Awareness chairperson. “Fit Girls tackles the childhood obesity crisis by combining the powers of running and reading. Girls in the program will exercise, but they will also read books that spotlight strong, healthy and happy female protagonists.”

For Oakview’s Cynthia Robertson and Shanbria Crawford, the project also is about sisterhood and helping younger ones in the program.

“We have fun together and we get to call each other sisters and we work together as a team,” Robertson said.

The girls said their team has developed such a special bond and pride about the project and their participation in it that the group came up with a cheer routine to let others know what their team is all about: “Delta Fit Girls, we’re No. 1. Delta Fit Girls, we’re having fun. Delta Fit Girls, we’re on the run. Delta Fits Girls, woo!”

Emily Brown fit coach for the Delta Fit Girls after school program at Oakview Elementary does a butterfly stretch with girls from the class on Thursday, November 4, 2010. Jeffrey Ball | The Muskegon Chronicle

The youth fitness program’s sessions are twice a week and led by coach Emily Brown, 24, a graduate and former basketball player at Mona Shores High School and Olivet College, where she majored in fitness management.

“I’m hoping they develop healthy lifestyles,” Brown said of her expectations for participants in the program. “They can take these activities that we learn and use them in everyday life.”

The program’s support team includes the families of the participants, 26 members of the local sorority serving as mentors and Jordan Harps, a sophomore student at Reeths-Puffer High School, who is an assistant “Fit Girls” coach.

“In addition to the medical condition associated with obesity, some of the social-emotional consequences of obesity include being teased and/or bullied because of your weight,” Hoskins said. “This is most difficult for young girls. These students are more likely to miss school, which affects their academic performance.”

Proceeds from the 5K event will be donated to Hackley Library Children’s Christmas Tree Decoration Project.

“Hence, the girls are learning about healthy hearts through the spirit of giving,” Hoskins said.

For more information about the Delta Fit Girls program that Hoskins said is funded by the sorority and a Gerber Foundation grant to improve the health of local youth, contact Lenora (Kitty) Turner-Terry, the sorority’s president, 720-2361 or Hoskins at 780-4020 or by e-mail at brendahoskins7330@gmail.com.

Photo courtesy Emily BrownLatausha Massey (left) and Shauntanique Longmire (right) enjoy an outdoor run at the school as participants of the Muskegon Heights Alumnae Delta Sigma Theta's "Delta Fit Girls" program for fourth- and fifth-graders twice a week at Oakview Elementary School at 1420 Madison. The program started Oct. 12 at Oakview and will run for six to eight weeks.

GOOD DEEDS

A coat drive spearheaded by the fifth-grade students and teacher Jean Jannenga at Saint Mary’s Parish School in Spring Lake pulled in a hefty bounty of new and gently used winter items this fall to donate to the Muskegon Rescue Mission.

With the support of the school and community, the items collected from the drive included 90 coats, 13 hats, eight pairs of gloves, four snowpants and two blankets, according to a news release submitted to The Chronicle by Tina L. Tilton, co-chairwoman of Saint Mary’s Parish School Board.

And, just as the coat drive ended on Nov. 5, the school shifted gears to jumpstart its Thanksgiving Food Drive on Nov. 12.

The food collection will provide meals for persons who “may not otherwise have the means to” eat, Tilton said.

Students in each class were assigned items to collect with the help of their families and the staff at the school and teacher Rhonda Michels and her fourth-grade class are creating handmade cards to distribute with the food baskets.

For more information about the school’s charitable drives, contact Saint Mary’s Parish School at 616-842-1282 or go online to www.stmaryschoolspringlake.com. The school is located at 421 E. Exchange in Spring Lake.

Photo courtesy Emily Brown

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